Sybrina Fulton (3rd from left) and Tracy Martin (4th from left) raise their hands in prayer during the “March for Peace” at Ives Estate Park in honor of their late son, Trayvon Martin, on Feb. 9, 2013, in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

There’s always someone sick out there looking to make a buck, but this idea was really sick.

The character was obviously based off of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old boy shot and killed last year in Sanford, Fla., during an altercation with neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, whose trial for second-degree murder is underway at the moment. Zimmerman has claimed the shooting was self-defense, and even if a jury finds that claim to be true, exploiting the death of a 17-year-old boy for financial gain is disgusting.

Lakewood police acted commendably when they released a critical report of the events that led to the unintentional shooting death of Lakewood police officer James Davies by a fellow officer during a tense search for a suspect.

The department commissioned an independent review board to examine the November 2012 incident, and then released the 99-page investigation to the public. It chronicled a number of police mistakes, including some made by Davies.

“The Board was asked to complete a critical review of the incident, and that is what this is,” the report said. “It is critical by its very nature. It does not focus upon what went right; it focuses upon what
went wrong, how, and why it went wrong.”

Losing an officer is a traumatic event for any police department. Having the courage to look unflinchingly at how it happened and how it might be prevented in the future — and to release the report publicly — surely was a difficult endeavor, but one that is important and to be admired.

Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, left, with El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, center right, and other sheriffs standing behind him, speaks during a news conference at which he announced that 54 Colorado sheriffs are filing a federal civil lawsuit against two gun control bills passed by the Colorado Legislature, in Denver May 17. Among other claims, the group of sheriffs and others joining the suit argue that the laws violate the 2nd and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. (Brennan Linsley, Associated Press)

John B. Cooke

Re: “Sheriff gun-laws lawsuit: How many people in Colorado do they represent, anyway?” May 17 blog post by Curtis Hubbard.

Gun control advocate and former Denver Post editorial page editor Curtis Hubbard attempted to trivialize 55 of 62 elected county sheriffs’ lawsuit against the state over unconstitutional gun control bills. Instead, he laid bare his ignorance of the difference between sheriffs and chiefs of police along with his prejudice against firearms.

Hubbard suggested that sheriffs represent an insignificant portion of the Colorado population because they mostly patrol unincorporated areas, while chiefs of police, whose association supported the gun control bills, “represent” more heavily populated incorporated areas. In Hubbard’s mind, the chiefs’ opinion is more relevant.

Obviously, Hubbard doesn’t understand the difference between sheriffs and police chiefs. First, sheriffs are the county’s chief law enforcement officers, and all residents vote for their sheriff except in Denver and Broomfield. In contrast, chiefs of police are appointed and often “represent” the views of their boss, usually a mayor or city manager.Read more…

In this June 6, 2013, photo, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, joined by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, left, addresses Attorney General Eric Holder as he testifies at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee as lawmakers examine the budget for the Justice Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Revelations of massive government collections of Americans phone and email records have reinvigorated an odd-couple political alliance of the far left and right. “This is a marginal national security group within our party,” Graham said of those who call the government snooping unwarranted or unconstitutional. “I just don t see how anybody gets elected as a Republican” by running to the “left of Obama on national security,” said Graham, one of the Senate s most hawkish members. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

While many politicians have called for the government to rein in its spying on Americans’ internet and phone activities, others have defended the practices as necessary to protect our safety.

“In World War II, the mentality of the public was that our whole way of life was at risk, we’re all in,” Graham told reporters. “We censored the mail. When you wrote a letter overseas, it got censored. When a letter was written back from the battlefield to home, they looked at what was in the letter to make sure they were not tipping off the enemy.

“If I thought censoring the mail was necessary, I would suggest it, but I don’t think it is.”

A $22 ticket to a bicyclist in Larimer County has spawned an internal investigation of a sheriff’s deputy and some embarrassing PR for the department.

According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, the confrontation between the bicyclist, Douglas Baker, and the sheriff’s deputy, Cpl. Perry Malisani, occurred last month. Baker was reportedly cycling when Malisani drove up beside him and ticketed him for failing to move over to the right.

However, the Coloradoan reported, the deputy cited a passage of law that was repealed in 2009 – law changed after a series of confrontations between cyclists and then-Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, who told bike riders they needed to get out of the way of cars.

The current law allows allows cyclists to keep riding in the part of the lane where they feel safest, and says cars can’t pass until it is clear to do so and that drivers must maintain a three-foot distance between themselves and a bicyclist.

Getting a bogus ticket is bad enough, but what Baker alleges to have happened next is shocking.

That’s right: the very kind of double jeopardy that is banned in the U.S. judicial system, which Europeans frequently hold in condescension because we still apply the death penalty.

Tuesday’s ruling from Italy’s Court of Cassation will mean that the case against Knox, who is now 25, and her former boyfriend, will be reheard at an appeals court in Florence, possibly as late as 2014. The original case against Knox was based on highly questionable evidence to begin with, but putting her in the defendant’s seat again after already being acquitted for the crime is an injustice, though allowable under Italian law.

The man who created the “Medina Alert,” a system of quickly telling the public about serious hit-and-run accidents, is hoping to take the idea nationwide.

We wish him luck.

The system is named after Jose Medina, who was killed outside a Denver night club on his first day as a valet. It is intended to get the word about such incidents to people who are typically on the streets or who can publicize information — taxi cab drivers, pedicab operators, police and media.

Denver Police use the system, created by then-police officer Larry Stevenson, to try to get tips about hit-and-run suspects, according to a story in the Post about the system.

“When we have a collision and we need to get the information out to the public who act as our eyes and ears … the Medina Alert is one of the many tools,” said Denver police Sgt. Michael Farr, who works in the traffic-investigations unit. “Unlike using Crime Stoppers and the media, the advantage is that it is tied to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s overhead message boards.”

It’s a good idea, one that is modeled after the Amber Alert system that sends out alerts about incidents involving missing children. We hope it catches on.

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A porn website run out of Colorado Springs that displays explicit photos is raising eyebrows, and not just because of what they show.

Women have told CBS4’s Brian Maass they were stunned to find what they considered to be private pictures displayed on the site. And some reacted angrily to suggestions from the site operator that they pay a “takedown lawyer” to have the pictures removed.

One theory is that the photos were sent to the web site by disgruntled former partners who intend to humiliate the subjects of the photos. Some women interviewed by the television station believe the photos to have been obtained via hacking.

Craig Brittain, 28, of Colorado Springs, operates the web site and calls it “entertainment.” He says the pictures were given to him, not stolen. In addition to the pictures, he posts links to the subjects’ Facebook pages and sometimes their phone numbers so, he says, viewers can get a fuller picture of who the women are. His goal, he says, is to make money from advertising.

It’s a grotesque and cruel business model.

As for the links on the site to a “lawyer” who offers “takedown” services for $250, a computer expert engaged by CBS4 concluded emails from Brittain and the lawyer were “likely sent not just from the same IP address but from the same computer.” Brittain denies he and the lawyer are one and the same.

“I would suggest overall I’m one of the good guys,” said Brittain.

We would be willing to wager the people whose pictures are on his web site are more likely to call him something else.

Heather Jensen’s two young boys, William and Tyler, are seen in a photo posted on her Facebook page.

When news broke that two young boys had overheated in a car — eventually dying — while their mother had sex with a man nearby, we, like many others, wondered how such a thing could happen.

Apparently, the troubles of Heather Jensen and her boys, ages 4 and 2, did not go unnoticed by those who knew them.

Few, however, reported those concerns to authorities, which is a tragedy.

As the Post’s Nancy Lofholm reported, friends, relatives and neighbors said Jensen was a neglectful mother who left the boys alone, or anyone who would watch William Jensen and Tyler Jensen.

Yet, there apparently are scant official records of problems concerning the family.

As Mesa County Department of Social Services director Tracey Garchar said: “If people would just care and call, we as a state and nation could have a huge impact on child abuse.”

That, of course, is not the only problem with Colorado’s child welfare monitoring. But more vigilance and concern about children who have no way to protect themselves from abuse or neglect surely would help matters.

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Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

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